Symptoms of migraine aura

What are the symptoms of migraine aura? 

The visual aura is the most common, occurring in 99% of attacks, sensory (typically unilateral numbness, tingling, or pins and needles in the hand, which may spread to the face or either alone, can have unilateral tongue paresthesias) in 30%, and dysphasia (if the dominant hemisphere or can have slurred speech) in 20%.

When more than one aura type occurs during an attack, symptoms typically follow one another in succession, beginning with visual, then sensory, and then dysphasia. 

Migraine aura meets International Headache Society criteria when the duration is 5 to 60 minutes.

A duration of longer than 1 hour but less than a week defines probable migraine with aura.

Visual aura lasts more than 1 hour in 6% to 10% of migraineurs with aura. 

Here is the table which provides the International Headache Society criteria.

Recurrent attacks, lasting minutes, of unilateral fully reversible visual, sensory, or other central nervous system symptoms that usually develop gradually and are usually followed by headache and associated migraine symptoms.
Diagnostic Criteria

• A. At least two attacks fulfilling criteria B and C
• B. One or more of the following fully reversible aura Symptoms:
  • 1. Visual
  • 2. Sensory
  • 3. Speech and/or language
  • 4. Motor
  • 5. Brain stem
  • 6. Retinal
• C. At least two of the following four characteristics:
  • 1. At least one aura symptom spreads gradually over ≥5 minutes, and/or two or more symptoms occur in succession
  • 2. Each individual aura symptom lasts 5-60 minutes
  • 3. At least one aura symptom is unilateral
  • 4. The aura is accompanied, or followed within 60 minutes, by headache
• D. Not better accounted for by another ICHD-3 diagnosis, and transient ischemic attack has been excluded